The Work in Eastern Germany

Update to the Work in Eastern Germany

November 2005

When I first entered the work in the former GDR (German Democratic Republic-better know as former Communist East Germany) in 1991 there was one small church in Oelsnitz with 18 members.  This core group was formed in the days of the communist.  Hans Schäller, the German preacher in Oelsnitz, left the Lutheran Church with a small house Church in the early 1980’s.  Their hope was to practice Biblical Christianity.  Their problem was just what was Biblical Christianity? Reiner Kallus, long-time native missionary in West Germany , heard about Hans (his cousin) and his Bible study group.  He made a visit to then communist East Germany in the mid 1980’s and started teaching them about Biblical Christianity.  Shortly before “Die Wende”, the fall of East Germany in 1989 and it’s reunion with the western side, Reiner baptized this core group.  After the fall Reiner Kallus moved to Oelsnitz and started training his cousin, Hans Schäller, to lead the new church.

In 1989 I had received a letter from Reiner asking if I might consider helping him in planting more churches in the former GDR.  I agreed and quit my job as testing center supervisor and part-time teacher for a community college in Dallas , TX .  I spent the year 1990 getting a Master of Arts in Missions from Abilene Christian University .  In the fall of 1991 the Southwest Church of Christ in Oklahoma City , OK sent me to join Reiner Kallus in Oelsnitz , Germany .  In the year 2000 the Plymouth Church of Christ of Apopka , FL took over the sponsorship of this work.

Reiner, Hans and I concentrated on the planting and maturing of churches.  Today there is a different picture.  We now have five churches of Christ in Saxony , plus two Bible study groups.  There is also a small Bible study group in Ronneburg in the State of Thuringia .  Ronneburg is about 45 minute drive from Oelsnitz.

List of church of Christ in Saxony

1.  The church in Oelsnitz is the biggest congregation with 45 baptized believers.  Here is where I live and concentrate my work.  Hans Schäller is the German preacher and is partly supported by the believers in Oelsnitz.

2.  The church in Chemnitz has 30 baptized believers.  The work is now under two missionary families, Larry  and Pam Sullivan  and Ed and Courtney Cantrell.  Starting in 2007 two brothers, Alex Bartsch and Steffen Pietsch will be supported by the congregation as part-time workers for the church in Chemnitz .  I helped in the training of these two brothers.  Reiner, Hans and I were the ones who started the work in Chemnitz and passed this on to Larry when he arrived in the summer of 1992.  Though all three of us continued to help in the work.

3.  The church in Zwickau now has 12 baptized believers.  The Germany missionary Karl Kallus is now working there, but he has trained the brothers to take over the work.  There are now brothers there who can teach and preach.  This work was also begun by Reiner, Hans, Karl and myself.

4.  The church in Dresden was started by the Rössel’s.  Kai-Uwe Rössel from Oelsnitz married a Christian form Chemnitz, Annette, and they both got jobs in Dresden after they finished studying at the University in Chemnitz .  Together they started a small house church that grew when four young university students were baptized.  Two American missionaries joined the work.  And the congregation became international as they also starting reaching out to American businessmen in Dresden .  Dresden has 13 baptized believers.  I have helped in some of the preaching there in the early phases.  But now they have some good men that can preach and teach.

5.  The work in Leipzig began about three years ago.   The missionary family Dwayne and Molly Perry are working there.  They have no baptized believers at the moment, but they do have regular guest.

There are also three home Bible study groups where Christians live too far away to attend church regularly.  1) Glauchau, where Marion’s (my wife) Uncle and Aunt live.  Both are baptized and the group averages an attendance of 8 each Friday night for a Bible study.  2) Schneeberg also has two baptized believers and they have a home Bible Study each Thursday night.  3) Ronneburg, Ronneburg is in Thuringia which is our neighboring State.  There was a small church here that went through a number of problems and lost most of their members. There are two baptized believers left and Hans drives there once a month and holds a Bible study for them and guest that they invite.  Our prayer is that one day the church will grow again.

As tools of outreach we have used Gospel meetings each summer with campaign teams from various Christian Colleges , though we have used Oklahoma Christian University the most.  We used this group to go into schools where they sang Christian songs and attended different English classes.  In Oelsnitz we always managed to have a high percentage of young guest because of this.  We also had them sing at nursing homes and retirement homes.  We have also used groups of  College students with “Let’s Start Talking”.  They spend the summer and teach English using the Simple English Bible as text.  This has been more successful in the larger cities like Chemnitz where we also hold regular English Bible studies.  I started this work way back in 1991 and it was so successful that Larry kept it going.  We have also used the Him program and Aim program to bring over young workers for two years.  We have had workers from the Lubbock School of preaching and world missions as well as from Oklahoma Christian University .  They are used to continue the work that was started in the summer by the Let’s Start Talking groups.  We also use small Bible study groups.  We have taught the members how to invite friends and neighbors into their homes and to teach them the basics of Christianity.  We also have and make use of youth groups to reach out.  Here in Oelsnitz we average 12 young people each Friday night.  Over half the group comes from outside of the church.  We have had success with all of these measures.

We have now offered twice a year long Bible School where men and women could learn the Bible in a more intensive way.  The thinking was to prepare men for preaching and teaching activities and to train women to be able to teach in Sunday schools.  We have now had two one year schools.  We now  have four men trained that can preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Kai-Uwe was one of these as is Alex and Steffen, all of which have used their talents for the Lord.  I taught the Old Testament books from Genesis to Second Kings.  It was fun teaching the fundaments of the Bible in the Pentateuch and looking at the characteristics of God and his people.  These years were well worth the effort I put into them.  We also had teachers from other churches in Germany as well as Professors from different Christian Universities in America .

In 1993 I married a German Christian from Oelsnitz.  Her name is Marion and she is a wonderful Christian women.  We have two children.  Robert Lewis, a missionary who lives in Chemnitz but helps out in all the congregations of Saxony also married a German Christian from Chemnitz . 

We try to help out in all the churches in Saxony , but Marion and I have in the last years  concentrated our work here in Oelsnitz.  Though there is a very good interaction with all the churches in Saxony .  We have started a weekend retreat once a year where Christians from all the congregations spend a weekend together in worship and Bible study.  We also play volleyball and other outside activities.  This helps us to learn each other and the problems in the individual congregations so we can pray together and offer each other fellowship.

The unemployment level is very high in Saxony .  In places there is 18% unemployment.  Many of our young Christians have had to leave us to find work in western Germany .  This has robbed us of a number of our younger Christians.

All in all we are very happy with the work in Saxony.  We praise God for the  growth of the Church and we give all credit to our Lord, as Paul once said, "I planted and Apollos watered.:  We do say all that we can do is plant and water, it is God who always gives the increase.